David Cifaldi slipped on loose rocks at 11,800 feet of elevation, near the summit of Granite Peak, Montana’s highest mountain. The fall drove one of his trekking poles straight through his torso: 8 inches of metal remained between the entry wound and the exit wound.
Cifaldi is 32 years old and works as a nurse at a wound clinic in Billings. There, lying on the rock, he did what his training taught him: he assessed himself. With no visible bleeding, full sensation, and no dizziness, he concluded that no vital organ was compromised.
He then made a decision that surprised rescue teams: he did not remove the pole and walked with two friends nearly 16 kilometers downhill, across snowfields and scree, monitored every 30 minutes via satellite. The journey took six and a half hours. Only at Intermountain Health hospital in Billings did doctors remove the pole from his body.
